Tender Monitoring Directorate Last Meeting

The Tender Monitoring Directorate at its last meeting inter-alia considered cases of low quote of fees by 171 CA firms on tenders for professional services, and decided to refer cases of 5 CA firms to the Director (Discipline) for investigation under Section 21 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. The cases relate to responding to tender for statutory audit services where minimum fees was not prescribed by the tenderer. This act of the CA firms is in violation of ICAI's notification issued on 7th April, 2016 and also the Code of Ethics issued by ICAI. Last year, 32 such cases were referred to Director (Discipline). Besides the above, the Tender Monitoring Directorate referred cases of 49 firms for peer review in view of very low quote submitted by them in respect of non-audit/attestation related service. Cases relating to 102 CA firms were closed as the cost sheet maintained and submitted by them was found to be satisfactory. Members are advised to adhere to the ICAI's notification and the Code of Ethics in relation to responding to tenders for professional services. They are also advised not to lower their price under any circumstances as low quotes damage the profession. Members should quote reasonably high and also give commensurate performance so that the reputation of the profession is held high in the eyes of the users of our services.